Health Research Board

The HRB’s funding strategy is informed by three key national strategies relevant to health research, namely Making Knowledge Work for Health (Department of Health and Children, 2001), Towards Better Health: Achieving a Step Change in Health Research in Ireland (Advisory Council on Science, Technology and Innovation, 2006) and the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, 2006).

To achieve the vision set out in the Corporate Strategy and the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI), the HRB identified the following priorities for its funding portfolio: 

• Promoting the best conditions for doing research by investing in infrastructure and building capacity,
• Supporting the people who will turn this vision into reality through dedicated training and career development schemes,
• Investing in high quality research projects and programmes to increase our understanding of health, disease and our health care system, and to encourage the translation of this knowledge into practical benefits.

The HRB funds research across the continuum of health: biomedical, clinical, population health, practice based and health services research.  While research funded by the HRB may be relevant to economic goals, particularly in the areas of biomedicine and clinical research, much of the research funded by the organisation has as its primary goal improving the health of the population.

The HRB is committed to the principles of open competition and peer review. An all island approach to research is actively promoted.   

The HRB’s current funding commitments stand at €185 million. In 2007, just over €41 million was spent on externally funded research.